www.military.ie the defence forces magazine
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by GUy WARNER
T
he Flying Training School (FTS) at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, is responsible for training Air Corps pilots. Instructors and
students assembled, as usual, in the Fitzmaurice Building to listen to comprehensive Met and ATC Briefs, which are always pre-
pared and given by a cadet. Today it was the turn of Cadet Richard Cleary. The OC, Comdt Frank Byrne, thanked the student and
added, "We have a busy day in front of us, with 15 flights scheduled, let's try and stick to the timings." One of the flying instructors, Capt
Odhrán Murphy, then conducted a short Q&A session on emergency drill, asking half a dozen quickfire questions to sharpen up the ca-
dets' minds before the working day began in earnest. Finally, Cadet Tadhg Firman had prepared a mini-lecture on flight authorisation,
which he gave in an assured and detailed manner but still comprehensible to a layman such as the author. He closed with the words,
"Just because you have been authorised by a higher authority you must not thereafter go blindly out on a mission." This aptly illustrates
the open culture of the FTS, which allies military discipline to the honest admission and sharing of mistakes by the students.
Instructor Lt Gearóid O'Briain says of the FTS, "This is an amazing place to work. Everyone is dedicated to the cause and we hardly need
to motivate our students. Learning to fly is only part of the process: we also aim to develop the character of our cadets, several of whom
may return to the FTS in the future as instructors."
Setting up the instructor's station
for the simulator
